Man Dies After Jumping On Subway Tracks In Downtown Brooklyn

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — A man died after jumping in front of an A train in Downtown Brooklyn on Saturday evening, the NYPD said. The incident halted A and C trains in the borough.

The man in his 30s abruptly jumped in front of a Queens-bound A train at the Jay Street-MetroTech station around 6 p.m., said Kristen Rodriguez, who had been standing next to him on the platform.

"As soon as the train came by an inch close to us, he just jumped right in front of the train," Rodriguez said.

Police cleared puzzled straphangers from the Queens-bound platform as firefighters worked to free the man from underneath the train. He was pronounced dead at the scene, an NYPD spokesman said.

A and C service was suspended in Brooklyn for more than an hour and a half before resuming at 7:35 p.m., according to MTA alerts. Some Coney Island-bound F trains were rerouted to the D line or stopped at Second Avenue.

Hundreds of straphangers wandered the Jay Street platform trying to figure out another way to the destinations as cops ushered them to the mezzanine. More than a dozen firetrucks and police vehicles were parked in Jay Street outside.

Rodriguez was heading to her East New York home after finishing work as a cashier at a UPS store and buying clothes for her daughter. She said she was in shock after seeing the man, dressed all in black, jump to his death.

"He didn't look like anything was wrong with him," she said.

Passengers were stuck on the A train for about 10 minutes after most of its cars pulled into the station, able to see the platform but unable to get off. The conductor announced that they couldn't move because of a customer injury. A woman in a car toward the back of the train tearfully told a relative she was stuck and couldn't get where she was going.

Eventually some doors opened and passengers got out. Station announcers, cops and MTA workers tried to help confused riders find alternate routes before eventually closing off the platform with caution tape.

The incident came on a weekend when 18 subway lines were running with service changes, including the A and C lines.

(Lead image: An NYPD officer stands by Noah Manskar